e bear do tricks you know."

"Oh, is it a trick bear?" Sue asked.

"Yes," answered Ben.

"A real truly one?" Bunny wanted to know.

"You'll see in a minute," Ben told her. "All ready now, Signore
Allegretti! We are going to have you do some tricks with your trained
bear!"

With that Ben pulled aside the curtain, and there stood a real, live,
truly, big brown bear, and with him was a man wearing a red cap. The man
had hold of a chain that was fastened to a leather muzzle on the bear's
nose.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried the children.

"Why, he's real!" gasped Sue.

"Of course he's real!" laughed Ben.

"He's just like the bear the man had out in front of grandpa's house
last week, doing tricks," said Bunny.

A man had gone past Grandpa Brown's house with a trained bear, and he
had stopped to make the big, shaggy animal do some tricks. Bunny and Sue
had given the man pennies, and Grandma Brown gave him something to eat.
The man gave part of his bread and cake to the bear.

"This is the same man," said Ben. "When I saw him, I thought he and his
bear would be just the thing for our circus. So I asked him to come back
to-day and give us a little show on his own account. And here he is. He
came last night and stayed in the barn so no one would see him until it
was time for the circus. I wanted him for a surprise."

"Well, he is a surprise," said Bunny. "I didn't think it was a _real_
bear."

"Let's see him do some tricks!" called a boy.

"All right. He do tricks for you," promised the man with the red cap.
"Come, Alonzo. Make fun for the children. Show dem how you laugh!"

The bear, who was named Alonzo, opened his mouth very wide, and made
some funny noises. I suppose that was as near to laughing as a bear
could come.

[Illustration: THERE STOOD A REAL, LIVE, TRULY, BIG BROWN BEAR

_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus. Page 211._]

"Now turn a somersault!" cried the bear's trainer, and the big, shaggy
creature did--a slow, easy somersault. Then he did other tricks, such as
marching like a soldier, with a stick for a gun, and he pretended to
kiss his master. Then the bear danced--at least his master called it
dancing, though of course a big, heavy bear can not dance very fast.

"Now climb a pole!" cried the bear's master. "Climb a pole for the
little children, and they will give us pennies to buy buns."

There was a big pole in the middle of the animal tent, and the bear
trainer led the animal toward